Mystery Dungeon Chapter II
by Stupid Cow Demon
Summary: Chapter 2 of the ongoing series


**Chapter II**

Taro and Alice both entered the cave cautiously. The cave was dimly lit due to the manly holes and cracks in the ceilings and walls. There was water dripping from everywhere you looked. Taro, having traveled to many different places, was not too worried. Alice on the other hand, was shivering with fear.

"…Hey."

"Y-yes?"

"What's wrong with you? You keep shivering as if it's cold in here, which it's not."

"S-sorry… It's just.. I've never really been in a place like this. And, you know about the sudden disappearances and sudden mood changes in the local Pokémon and- "

"Uh… remember, I'm not from here, so I don't know a single thing about this 'Prize Town.'"

"It's called,_ Treasure Town_. Not _Prize Town_. That just sounds really stupid."

"Yeah, like Treasure Town _doesn't _sound incredibly stupid."

"Oh, shut up! You haven't even… …"

"Hm? What's the matter with you?"

"R-run! It's avalanche of rocks!"

"W-what!"

Taro turned around to see the boulders rolling towards him and Alice. The two hastily ran away from them as fast as they could, but unfortunately, they seemed to be in a somewhat shallow part of the cave, and there were no turns or crossroads appearing as they ran. With Alice in the lead, Taro fell awfully behind. While running, Taro tripped on a stationary rock and fell harshly to the ground. Alice still running, stopped to see if her companion was alright.

"Taro! Behind you!"

"D-dammit.."

The rocks hurled faster and faster until Taro quickly got up and straightened his arms. He decided to take the risk of being squashed in order to stop some of the rocks. And he braced himself, he started to glow a very faint, but bright light. It grew brighter and he illuminated the area around him. In his palms, a sort of energy began to form and when the light had vanished, the energy shot out of Taro's hands and split into a spear-like form a blasted the boulders into rubble. Taro opened his eyes to see what his newly found power had done.

"W-what the hell..? Alice.. what happened?"

"Y-you saved our lives! Your Focus Blast saved us both! Thank you thank you thank you!"

Alice hugged Taro even tighter than before.

"Alice… can't…. breathe…"

"Sorry! It's just… Thank you for saving me. I wasn't able to do anything at all… Oh… I'm so useless."

"Don't say that! If you didn't wake me up before, I probably would have just rotted over time!"

"…"

"… Sorry, My humor is kinda crude."

"No… it's okay. Thank you for cheering me up."

"Now that you're okay, why don't we go get your pendant back?"

"R-right!"

Taro and Mary continued to explore the cave. They ran into a few Pokémon that were willing to block their path but Taro took care of them without any trouble. With each enemy defeated, Mary grew to look up to Taro more and more. After a while, they had finally reached the Pit of the cave. There, Koffing and Zubat were carefully examining the pendant they had stolen from Alice.

"Haha… how much do you think it'd sell for, Zubat?"

"Dunno…"

"Hey, you're s'pose to be the smart one here!"

"No I'm not! The boss is the smart one! I bet if we asked him, he'd know for sure!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right…"

Taro and Alice both hid behind a rock when they caught of the two.

"So… what's the game plan, Alice?"

"Game plan? You mean you want me to come up with something!"

"Well, it's YOUR pendant. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to take some responsibilities."

"W-well… I suppose so… Uh… How about a sneak attack?"

"… Alright then. On your signal."

Alice waited patiently for the right moment. When Koffing and Zubat both turned in the other direction, she yelled for Taro to charge. Alice and Taro both ran as quick as they could towards Koffing and Zubat. But along the way, Alice tripped over a stone and fell on top of Taro.

"Ow! What're doing!"

"S-sorry! I think I tripped on that rock and fell on you…"

"Clearly…"

"Haha… well, what do we have here?"

Koffing and Zubat took their attention to Taro and Alice, who hastily got up from the ground.

"Well Alice… go for it."

"O-okay… Uh… Um.."

"Hehe… got somethin' to say nimrod?"

"Y-yeah! Give me back my special pendant, Zubat! It's mine and you have no right to steal it! You hear me!"

"HAHA! The puppy's got some bark to her! Too bad in a second it'll just be whimpers and whines, eh Koffing?"

"Hehe… ya got that right, Zubat."

In an instant, Zubat charged at Taro and slapped him with his wing. Taro being a Fighting-Type, was seriously hurt by the attack. Alice on the other hand, was getting chased by Koffing when she bumped into Taro, yet again.

"Damn, you're like a freakin' magnet!"

"Sorry!"

Koffing shot a blast of air towards Alice which knocked her off her feet. She got up, but it looked like she was still suffering from the attack.

"Alice! You okay?"

"Y-yeah… I'm fine…"

"Haha… give up yet, nimrod!"

Alice full of anger, got up and charged herself towards Zubat, jumped in his face and shot hundreds of bubbles into his face. As they reached him they all popped with a powerful force that left Zubat dazed from shots of bubbles in his face. Alice, did it once again but this time, the bubbles had more precision and popped with a greater force knocking Zubat into a rock and knocking him out. Distracted, Taro ran, with excellent speed towards Koffing and headbutted him in the face. Koffing bowled towards Zubat, who was slowly recovering and knocked him back out, along with himself.

"We… we did it? We did it! YAY!"

"Well, that wasn't too hard…"

"Yay! Taro, thank you thank you thank you!"

Alice ran to Taro and embraced him.

"…Alice… how many… times are… you…. gonna… "

"Oh, sorry Taro… It's just I'm so happy to get my pendant back… You really have no idea how much this is worth to me."

"Well.. I'm kinda tired from all this fighting. Let's get outta here."

"…. Right.."

Taro and Alice both returned to the beach where they heard the waves still crashing against each other. Alice stopped walking giving Taro the lead. Taro stopped and turned around to see what was wrong with Alice.

"What's wrong?"

"… Um… well…"

"Come on. Out with it."

"Well… Taro… you did so well in the cave today… You handled those boulders, you defeated all those Pokémon, AND you helped me muster the courage to beat Zubat and Koffing… You're… and amazing Pokémon… "

Taro began to blush with embarrassment.

"Uh.. Wow. Thanks!"

"You're welcome… but.. well…"

"… Yeah?"

"I… I want you by my side. You're… the only person whose ever gone through something like this with me… "

"Uh… A-alice… where are you going with this..?"

"P-please… Form an Exploration Team with me!"

Alice bowed to Taro in respect. Taro blushed even harder in embarrassment.

"W-what? What're you talking about?"

"Please! You… You make me feel brave! I feel as if I can do anything when I'm with you! And you helped me recover something that was so very dear to me… Please… will you form an Exploration Team with me..?"

Taro didn't know what to say. It was all so sudden for him. He wanted to decline but seeing as how he made such a big impact on Alice, it was impossible for him to say no. He had no choice.

"… … … … Okay."

"… What? What did you say?"

"I said okay! I'll form this explorer team with you.."

"T-taro… Taro, thank. Thank you so much. Really, thank you!"

"BUT! On one condition…"

"Y-yes?"

"…Stop saying thank you so much. It's like you're some kind of goodie-goodie.."

"Yes! Okay, Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"…"

"Come on! To become an exploration team, we need to be assigned to a guild! I know the perfect one!"

Alice grabbed Taro's hand and dragged him in the direction to the guild she was previously located. Taro, sort of regretting his decision, couldn't help but feel sort of happy for his newfound companion.


End file.
